Guidelines proposed this morning by the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities would phase out U of T’s controversial model of charging students full tuition who take as little as three courses. Under the new model, students taking 3.5 courses or more will be charged full tuition in fall 2015, and students taking 4.0 courses will be considered full time starting in fall 2016.
The move is being praised by students’ unions, who have long argued that flat fees cause unnecessary financial hardship for students.
“It is great that students at the University of Toronto will have some financial relief,” said Munib Sajjad, president of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) in a press release. “I am encouraged that the government has listened to our concerns and responded to our recommendations.”
UTSU’s vice-president, external, Agnes So, added that “I am glad the government has responded to the thousands of petitions students at the University of Toronto have sent,” but argued that it is still unfair for students to pay for any course that they do not take.
Alastair Woods, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, echoed this sentiment saying that the changes are “a good step forward.” However, Woods is also concerned that the new guidelines do not go far enough.”We were advocating for a return to the per credit billing which is pretty standard at most universities, where you pay equivalent to how many course you take,” he said.
The university implemented flat fees, in part, to make up for a funding gap. In a recent interview with the Globe and Mail, U of T president Meric Gertler said that these changes will eventually cost the university $16 million annually. As Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Gertler was a strong advocate for flat fees. This afternoon, Gertler indicated he was pleased that the changes will be rolled out gradually, although he again repeated his concern over lost revenue. “It is not at all clear how we can make up the lost revenue resulting from this policy change. It is too soon to know if or where U of T will reduce expenditures to make up for the lost revenue,” said Gertler.
Emily Hedges, spokesperson for the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, did not directly address whether the new structure would cost universities money saying instead: “We’re asking universities to make their fees fairer. For the past decade we’ve increased funding to universities by 80 per cent.”
Under the new model, universities will now need to charge tuition per semester, and will be restricted in terms of how they can charge interest.
“We thought it was unfair that you were being charged for the portion of your tuition that was covered by OSAP simply because the payment didn’t line up,” said Hedges. Hedges explained that while interest charges will still be permitted, the new guidelines are designed to stop students having to pay interest because they had not yet received their OSAP payment.
Benjamin Coleman, an Arts & Science at-large director for the University of Toronto Student’s Union (UTSU) revealed earlier this year that U of T made $1.75 million in interest charges on late tuition from undergraduates at the St. George campus alone. Coleman welcomed the new announcement, saying it was particularly good for students with disabilities and students on OSAP.
“Waterloo and York already have per semester billing and basically the way it works is you pay for your classes in the fall semester and you pay for your classes in the winter semester,” said Coleman who said that in an ideal system U of T would now charge “as close to 50-50 per semester as possible.”
Per semester billing and the new interest fee model need to be implemented for the 2014-2015 academic year, although universities can apply for exceptions.
Gerlter expressed concern over those two elements as well saying: “We estimate that the changes to the billing and interest charge practices announced today will cost U of T about $3 million annually.”
